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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22745668">kindest of shadows</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/twelveam/pseuds/twelveam'>twelveam</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Monster Hunter (Video Games), Monster Hunter Stories (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 09:21:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>610</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22745668</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/twelveam/pseuds/twelveam</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>the heart that lies in the deepest waters is the heart that lives longest. shadow needs her friends back but before that, she needs to be strong enough to find their hearts, strong enough to save them.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cheval &amp; Lilia (Monster Hunter)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>kindest of shadows</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Shadow has the dumbest name this side of the village. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Shadow has the dumbest name in the whole village </span>
  <em>
    <span>period</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And it’s not like she can do anything about it now, after years and years of being called Shadow. Even if she suddenly picks a nice, simple name like Sky or something sweet like Rose nobody will call her by it because she’s been Shadow for too long. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Silent, sneaky Shadow who is unafraid of the night and sleeps during the day, who walks around swathed in colors that let her blend into the scenery, who’ll pop up from nowhere, right behind you in broad daylight even if you were in the middle of village and there was nowhere to </span>
  <em>
    <span>hide</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Okay so maybe her name is fitting - very, very fitting Cheval argues - and maybe it suits her but Shadow? Really? What were her parents thinking? Shadow doesn’t know obviously, because they’re dead. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She remembers bits and pieces of them - (</span>
  <em>
    <span>oh my darling don’t jump out at me like that! goodness but i wonder if you haven’t taken to this just a little too well!</span>
  </em>
  <span>)- small scraps of memory - (</span>
  <em>
    <span>shadowling! look at how much you’ve grown! ah, still not talking? well let’s see if i can’t make you laugh, eh?</span>
  </em>
  <span>) - and even now she carries lessons with her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lessons like ‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>watch the way you place your feet shadowling, light and easy, that’s my girl’ </span>
  </em>
  <span>and ‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>focus on your shoulders sweetheart, posture is very important. drop them a little lower now and slouch, that’s it. people won’t look twice at you if you walk like that. excellent work my darling!’</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Small phrases stick with her the best, praise in her mama’s lilting voice, the energy her father infused into his every word. When she first came to village, rushed in by a rider with blood spattered across his face and voice cracking as he called for help, she was empty.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They asked her for a name and all she could say was ‘my pa calls me his shadowling’, voice hitching on the second word because the last time she heard him speak still rang in her ears, the awful scream that tore itself from his throat. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’s worked the hardest on forgetting that because her pa wouldn’t want her to keep a memory that tore at her heart. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He would never want her to hurt but the problem was that when she let go of one thing, most of the others followed suit. She hopes they’ll forgive her for that because it's selfish, but memories of death are not meant to be kept in the first place. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That’s where nightmares come from. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But Shadow is named Shadow and she mutters about her name, moans and gripes about it to Cheval who covers his mouth to unsuccessfully hide his laugher and Lilia who laughs out loud and slaps a hand against her back so hard she wheezes out her next breath. Too late for that now, they say and they are both utterly unsympathetic the bastards. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So Shadow slips into Cheval’s room and drowns it in flowers and twists into the river the next time she and Lilia tussle and revenge is so very sweet, followed by laughter. It’s the three of them together and they fit smooth, the cogs of a great machine come together to become something wonderful. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s the three of them together until it isn’t and then it’s the three of them gone to pieces, something broken left behind. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Shadow picks them and pockets the pieces even if they cut into her and tries not to fade away. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Broken doesn’t mean gone forever.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Broken can still be fixed.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>tbc !</p></blockquote></div></div>
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